180 degree Virtual Reality Projector - A new way of experiencing games

Many people believe that playing games is a lonely hobby and the new virtual reality headsets make it seem even more so. Captopsys came with a ‘solution’ for this problem. They have created the Immersis VR projector.

The concept is similar to Microsoft’s project Illumiroom. The demo version made panoramic video and games feel as if they replaced the room. This technology gives a feeling of closeness with your friends while enjoying your hobby.

The technology is based not only on adapting the images in real time according to the size and shapes your room has, but also including your TV or monitors in the projection.

How is this possible? You only need configure the projector to your room and after that, it will give you a 3D ‘deformated’ version of the image. This process of fitting and altering the surroundings according to the viewer’s perspective is called anamorphosis.

While Immersis is connecting to your a DVI/HDMI port, it can project 2 dimensional flat photos and 180 degree panoramas and even 360 degree games, but the gaming controls stay the same : keyboards, controllers, touch screen tablets and mouse.

Although they offer very little information on Kickstarter, they promise an experience of manipulating 3D objects, very much alike to Microsoft HoloLens’ technology.

Immersi seems to present a problem. They use a fisheye lens which has a short focal point and say that the resolution will be of 1920 x 1080 , something which for now it is very good seeing as no one has tried to do what Catopsys does now. The problem is that a room is much bigger than the TV screen, and it will take many pixels in order to make a group of people feel that they are part of the game.

Although Catopsys had only 221 backers on their Kickstarter project campaign, their pledges started from $1000. By donating to creating Immersi, people will receive $1500 off the retail price, and right now, they estimated that shipping will start in October 2015.

After this project has been made known, a question arises: Will Oculus Rifts and its rivaling virtual reality headsets have trouble before they even get a proper start? The answer is based on your personal opinions. Whether you prefer to have images projected on your walls, or want to feel the sensation that you are actually in some other world, if you are a true gamer, you will most likely enjoy both experiences.